Up here in Montana, Fall (or Autumn for those of you outside of the USA) has officially arrived. Not the fall from grace (although it might feel like it at times), but Fall, the season. The Summer is disappearing and the colder months are approaching. This year it feels especially abrupt for Molly and I. So much has happened this year, and we have spent most of the summer in Kona. Returning to cool nights, yellow leaves, and yes, Halloween AND Christmas décor appearing at departments stores is giving me indigestion. Where have the first nine months of the year gone?!
Family Life:
Our first grandbaby, Wilder, turned 6 months during a visit with us! It was so special to have Sam, Kinley and Wilder with us in Montana for 10 days. He is such a fun little guy: so smiley, extraverted, and communicative! Sam and Kinley are settling in to life in Oklahoma, being parents, and for Samuel working as much as he can to make ends meet. A new growth season for all of them and they are doing it so well.
Joel spent his summer break (May-mid August) back in Lakeside at our house working hard and saving money for his final year of college. He is now 6 weeks into final year at MSU (Montana State University) in Bozeman, about 5 hours away. He has become a very responsible, principled and steady man. All of his working over the last 4 years means that his goal of graduating debt-free is in sight. He is doing a major in History with a minor in Economics.
Eden had a very busy summer and we saw less of her than we wanted! In July she went on a sports outreach to Germany for two weeks. Once back, she was off to a volleyball training camp, after which she was immediately off to a church camp for a week. In there somewhere she also had a week in Kona with Molly and I. Mature, outgoing and dependable, she is entering her senior year well. Unfortunately, during the first week of Varsity volleyball competition she landed a jump serve and somehow blew out her knee. A little while later her MRI confirmed her worst fears: a completely torn ACL, and a double meniscus tear. With surgery scheduled late October she won’t be playing volleyball again this year. This is a huge catastrophe for her, as she loves and works toward volleyball so much, she is one the captains of her team, and was also investigating opportunities to play at college after this year. Being the woman of character she is, she is rising to it, still committed to the team, attending all practices and games while helping coach her replacement as setter.
For Molly and myself we are very aware of the life transition we are currently in. Sam is in Oklahoma with his family, Joel lives in another city graduating college in May, and Eden is in her Senior year, graduating next May also. Our roles at YWAM Montana are steady and busy, but we also see a shift in focus coming. For one, Molly and I have been able to do some more traveling and teaching together and we expect this to increase over the next year or so (especially when Eden graduates). What this means for the present is navigating toward that, discerning between invitations to train and teach, as well as new mission-projects that are emerging.
Work/Ministry Life:
Here in Montana we continue to oversee, train, and send out short term young missionaries into the world. As I write this, we have teams arriving in Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Taiwan and Alaska. The work will be evangelism, encouraging the local believers with studies, practical help, and aiding in their local mission work. Each team also carries a focus on bible distribution, literacy, and translation help where possible. Add to this mercy ministry (water, health care, and prayer), they will be busy, but they will never be the same.
More personally for us, as you would know Molly and I were on the staff team of YWAM’s Leadership Training School for the last 3 months. The LTS is one of the key training platforms for YWAM’s existing and emerging leaders. These are the individuals and families who lead campuses, missions’ initiatives in nations, plant churches, and work in youth movements across the globe. This LTS was held at YWAM’s campus in Kona and was the largest one ever run. With 251 participants from 54 nations, and 150 kids added onto that, our staff team of 65 leaders had our hands full.
Everybody keeps asking us, “How was it?”. In a sentence… it was busy, hectic, chaotic at times, inspiring, rewarding, and very encouraging. Not only was I deeply impressed and grateful for the caliber of the leadership team (both in character and experience), what we witnessed in the student body was equally as encouraging. We are “Youth” with a Mission, yes. But this doesn’t mean that our global leaders and workers are amateurs. These people are running ministries that are literally impacting communities, cities, and nations. And, a lot of those places are dangerous and cannot be named for security reasons. We heard of work among unreached people groups, persecuted believers, mercy ministries, ship ministries in remote places (such as what we as YWAM Montana are involved with in Papua New Guinea). Ministry among the deaf, blind, bibleless, and sex traffic industry were only some of the more radical initiatives that are taking place in nations.
Until we meet again, here are some photos of the West clan: Kona, Montana, and Wilder. Thanks for reading. Blessings and aloha to you all. A deep thank you for all your support and encouragement. As we say in the islands, “Mahalo nui loa!”
GoWests! 